Effect of optical illumination on resistive switching in MOS stacks based on ZrO$_2$(Y) films with Au nanoparticles

The effect of optical illumination in the visible band on resistive switching in ITO/ZrO$_2$(Y)/$n$-Si MOS stacks (including those with Au nanoparticles embedded in the ZrO$_2$(Y) layer) was studied. The dependence of the logical gap between the resistance states on the photoexcitation intensity had a threshold character. The logical gap decreased with further increasing photoexcitation intensity above the threshold. The effect was ascribed to the heating of the active layers of the MOS stack due to the interband optical absorption in the Si substrate. A suppression of resistive switching by the photoexcitation at a wavelength of 650 nm (corresponding to the plasmon resonance in the Au nanoparticles) due to plasmon optical absorption in the nanoparticles was observed.